- a small, soft mass or ball, as a handful of cotton, crumpled paper, etc.
- a lump or small, compact mass (of something): a wad of chewing tobacco
- a mass of soft or fibrous material used for padding, packing, stuffing, etc.
- a plug of hemp, tow, paper, etc. stuffed against a charge to keep it firmly in the breech of a muzzleloading gun or in a cartridge
- Informal a roll of paper money
- Slang a large amount, esp. of money
Origin of wad
Medieval Latin wadda, wadding from uncertain or unknown; perhapstransitive verb
wad′ded, wad′ding- to compress into a wad
- to roll up (paper, etc.) into a wad
- to plug with a wad
- to force or stuff: to wad oakum into a crack
- to line or pad with or as with wadding
- to hold (a charge) in place by a wad
